Kathy Wu
Last weekend, I read Teachers’ Monthly Magazine. That was my first time know this teacher, and her name is Jahana Hayes. There were 21 pages describing her experience, her job and her ideas. I really admired her.
This is her. She is a history teacher and the chairperson of the School of Academic Renown (SOAR) Program at Kennedy High School in the Waterbury Public School district. She began her teaching career in the New Haven Public schools and completed her student teaching under the 2005 CT Teacher of the Year Dr. Burt Saxon. In the last ten years she has taught World History,
Roots of American Citizenship, U.S. History, Civics, Geography and African American History, a course for which she helped to write the curriculum and implement. Jahana Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, got a glowing introduction from President Obama when he honored her.
Teaching kids facts and analytical thinking skills isn’t enough, she said, adding that she hopes to use her new platform to promote service-learning — which involves community service activities, teaching kids to use their education for good and showing the importance of being empathetic.
“We spend a lot of time teaching kids to be self-sufficient and high achievers, and I think we really need to spend some time also teaching them: OK, now what do you do with that? What does it mean? You have this knowledge and information, how can you use it to improve the human condition?” Hayes said. “I think we need to nurture empathy from a very early age.”
That’s my favorite and I will learn a lot from her.
